Gaming systems have evolved from those which provided an isolated gaming experience to networked systems providing a rich, interactive experience which may be shared in real time between friends and other gamers. With Microsoft's Xbox® video game system and Xbox Live® online game service, users can now easily communicate with each other while playing to share the gaming experience. Moreover, when not playing in tandem, current gaming systems allow friends to track others' gaming experiences and accomplishments.
One way in which users track their and their friends' progress through different games is through the concept of game scores and achievements. As gamers progress through a game and complete game-specific challenges, such as getting to a new level or amassing a specified number of wins against other players, the Xbox Live service keeps track of scores and achievements for Xbox Live service subscribers. Where once a gamer's scores and achievements were only seen by him or her, gamers are now able to see the real time progress of others, either while logged on to the Xbox Live service via an Xbox game console or online. Game progress has become a highly visible measure associated with users, and the keeping and posting of scores and achievement data has evolved into a strong selling point for the Xbox platform and games. Friends and users now compete with each other for the highest scores and most achievements.
Another innovation in current gaming systems is the ability to quickly and easily download games. For example, Microsoft introduced a gaming disc known as Microsoft Arcade which is able to connect to a server through the Internet when the gaming console is connected to the Internet. From the server site, the Arcade gaming disc is able to enumerate full version games which are available for download to the user's hard disc drive on the XBox console. In the past, when a user learned of a game through a friend or otherwise, the user either had to go to a store to purchase the game media, or have the media delivered after an online purchase. With the passage of time and difficulty involved in the purchase, users often lost interest and did not follow through with the purchase. However, platforms such as Microsoft Arcade allow users to obtain games as soon as they learn about them.
It is known to incorporate a mail messaging system in a gaming and media system whereby users can send messages to friends and other players while the users are gaming. Using this mail messaging system, users commonly share their thoughts and experiences on a particular game they are playing and commonly boast of their accomplishments in the game. If the message recipient is gaming online, the recipient may be alerted that a message has arrived and they may view the message while they are gaming. Back and forth communications are thus enabled, for example to allow users to share their thoughts and experiences while playing the same or different games.
Accessing and using current mail messaging systems while gaming is currently burdensome. As one example, using the gaming keyboard to create a mail message is time consuming. Moreover, current mail messaging systems do not take advantage of the viral marketing opportunities presented. For example, a user may send an email to a friend letting the friend know how much fun the user is having playing a particular game. If the friend is sufficiently intrigued to buy the game, they must maneuver through a plurality of different user interface screens before they are able to arrive at an option allowing the friend to download the game. Features such as mail messaging systems and the ability to download games have increased interest and sales in gaming platforms. However, there is room for greater synergy between these features.